Boston Wine Festival 2008:

This is the first time I've attended such an event and I wasn't sure what to expect.  It could have been a bunch of college guys who love to drink, or it could have been high society.  Let me walk you through the experience...

First you're not given a ticket when you register.  They simply put your name on a list at the registration desks and when you show up they check you off.  They don't check IDs so really you could fake your way in if you knew someone else was on the list, though it's a classy event so let's hope that never happens.

This event was at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  Don't make the mistake of going into the hotel because like me they'll just escort you out a side door and point to an outside conference room where the event is actually held.  Apparently most of the regulars already knew where to go so you stand out as a new person if you make the mistake.

After you get through registration they point to a table with "tasting notes".  The tasting notes list all the food and all the wine available, it doesn't describe the taste sensations of either so it wasn't what I've come to think of as tasting notes.  No big deal though.

As you walk into the room the waiters hand out champagne.  Most people took it but I passed.  I was thinking I didn't want to get slowed down with the standard at the door stuff, and I was probably right, because I'll share a lesson with you in a minute.

In this event there were about 6 table set-ups with wine, half on opposite sides of the room, with a big buffet up the middle.  A few standing tables are around but really you have to stay on your feet and keep your hands full most of the time. 

My initial strategy was to observe (look at the wine, food, people, what they were doing), then eat something so I wasn't sampling on an empty stomach, then get some wine.  I also planned to focus on red wine instead of mixing with white.  I was partly right in these plans...

What happens is the first 30 minutes you'll have good access to both food and wine, but people continue to trickle in all night and in seemingly no time there will be a long line for everything.  The best strategy is actually to go direct to the half of the wine tables closest to the entry and try everything you're interested in at those tables in that first half hour (you'll get 6 to 8 tries in).  Then you go get some food.  Then the rest of the time you choose to stay you go to the remaining tables further from the door and wait in line a while to get to their offerings.  Sure they'll still have lines but the closer to the entry the worst the lines will be.

The hotel by the way was gorgeous.  I think the food completely outshined the wines both in quality and quantity.  It was a seafood theme, well presented, and quite delicious.  And the waitstaff were excellent and quite probably a lot classier and more worldly than I am.

The guests are predominately upper class Bostonians, 2/3 over 50 and in full suits and dresses, while 1/3 are clearly the younger fast risers of downtown.  Personally I felt out of place and rather uncomfortable most of the night, but no one acted like I didn't belong and in fact several older men standing with there wives were smiling at me like they wondered what sort of young newcomer I must be.

OK, let's talk about wines.  I wondered if these wines would be brands I had never heard of because their values were so far above what I see and buy in the store they'd seem alien to me.  Not true at all.  In fact I was surprised a Boston wine event had the selections that it did.  Predominately West Coast US, all represented by major distributors.  A few international wines but still linked in with the distributors.  Some Italian, but no French, I heard there were Australian but I didn't see them, I didn't see anything South American, etc.  And I also wondered if New England or upstate New York wines would be part of this but not a single one.

Many I had tried before although not necessarily the same varietal offered  today (St. Supery, Rodney Strong, Simi, Terlato).  Several I had seen many times in common stores (Benziger, Rosenblum, Rubicon).  I'd estimate the dollar value on average in the $20 to $30 range, not the over $50 range I suspected.  Obviously there were no Stag's Leap or famous Bordeaux's.

Each table was basically sponsored by a distributor.  In some cases they would just pour what you asked and keep it rolling.  In other tables they were doing the hardsell, trying to convince the Boston elite of the qualities of their wines probably hoping they'd buy cases of it for their elite parties in the year to come.  I prefered when they'd just pour because then more people could sample.  Frankly when you reach the point people are 3 shoulders deep and 10 shoulder's across it's kind of irresponsible to chat up one guest for 5 minutes and ignore the rest.  But oh well.

I got somewhere around 6 to 7 samples, and that was only because I was there at the start.  Many people around me were still waiting for their first glass or had only gotten to maybe a couple.  The concept of lines is ignored by many guests who just walk up and insert themselves.  Really the wine acquisition part was frustrating.  And forget about concern of too much alcohol because it would take about 12 samples to equal a decent glass of wine and if you're waiting 10 minutes for each installment you really have no chance of getting too much.

So the best wines I tried were both Super Tuscans.  Salviano Turlo, Ubria 2004 was my best; and San Fabiano, Piocaia, 2003.  Probably those both were bolder than the vast majority of wines tried.  In general most of the wines I tried were very balanced, blended, and finessed but had too subdued flavor.  I was bored with most.  But I also liked the Gridley Family Cellars Rose of Cabernet Franc from Napa Valley, 2006, which had a light body yet a surprising peppery zing.

So in summary, was this worth the $100 admission?  Not this time because I didn't know what I was doing.  Next year I'll repeat and what I'll do is a) get lot's of wine in the first half hour, and then b) have many plates of the fantastic food.  That's the only way to get your $100 worth out of this thing.  And then I just may skip years after that.